Africa currently supplies only four 4% of the world’s 1.9 million seafarers, despite the continent’s vast coastline.
By Blue Africa News
Marine transport spanning seas and oceans moves over 80 percent of global trade by volume, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), transporting cargo and passengers, and not only linking people but also connecting global supply chains.
At the centre of this mode of transport are seafarers aboard boats and ships, ensuring that goods and passengers reach the intended destination – challenges linked to water transport (among them bad weather) notwithstanding.
A seafarer, according to mission to seafarers.org is someone who is employed to serve aboard any type of marine vessel, usually referring to active seafaring workers, but can also be used to describe a person with a long history of serving within the profession.
The IMO draws its definition of a seafarer from the International Labour Organization (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention 2006, which defines a seafarer as any person who is employed, engaged, or works in any capacity onboard a ship to which the Convention applies.
The ILO definition focuses on the role in ship operation, maintenance, and provisioning, including masters, officers, and crew members working on commercial ships, generally excluding warships, fishing vessels, and non-commercial vessels.
Speaking in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania recently, Robert Wilmot, Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the IMO said that currently, the number of seafarers in the world stands at 1.9 million, with Africa supplying a meager 4 percent.
“Africa currently supplies only four 4% of the world’s 1.9 million seafarers, despite its vast coastline. Together, we can train, certify and empower a new generation of African maritime professionals,” said Wilmot, during the signing of a cooperation agreement between Liberia and Tanzania.
The question begs, what does it take to become a seafarer? IMO’s International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, as amended, prescribes minimum standards relating to training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers which countries are required to meet or exceed.
Notably, IMO does not approve any training courses or institutes. “This is a privilege and responsibility of member governments who are parties to the STCW Convention. The 1978 STCW Convention, as amended, requires that training leading to the issue of a certificate is continuously monitored through a quality standards system, which is part of an independent evaluation arranged by the corresponding authority of an STCW party in accordance with the Convention requirements,” IMO says in one of its online publications.
A seafarer’s job is extremely demanding. It entails spending weeks, months or even a year on water traversing the world, making several stops at foreign ports, away from family.
From right: Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director Captain William Ruto with a budding seafarer during a Maersk sea-time training program on February 26, 2025. Photo courtesy: KPA
Captain Jeremiah Ojowi, a ship master, recounts spending 9 months on a ship, the longest time he ever spent away from his Kenyan family. “We were travelling from West Africa to Uruguay, South America,” he recalled during an NTV interview.
“I have been on board for up to 12 months,” added Irene Atieno, a cadet.
In Kenya for instance, becoming a seafarer involves obtaining mandatory STCW certificates from Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) approved institutions, such as the Bandari Maritime Academy (BMA) passing a medical exam, and obtaining a Certificate of Discharge Book (CDC).
The process requires specialised safety training, a valid passport, and application through licensed recruitment agents. As a qualification awarding institution duly registered to train maritime related courses, the academy offers Level V and Level VI courses from maritime education training department and maritime transport and logistics departments.
Courses available at BMA include navigational watch 2, engineering technology watch 3 and 4, coxswain level III, advanced firefighting, STCW revalidation, proficiency in survival craft and rescue boat (PSCRB), among others.
“With more than 800 regular students, the academy trains over 5,000 trainees in diverse areas each year,” says Dr. Irene Mugo, the institution’s Academic Registrar.
Becoming a seafarer in Nigeria is pretty similar to what happens in Kenya, only that this time ones is required to obtain a mandatory basic safety STCW training from Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) approved institutions, securing a medical certificate of fitness, and obtaining a Seaman’s Discharge Book (SIRB) from NIMASA, before other processes follow.
And to become a seafarer in South Africa, you must first obtain a South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA)-accredited medical certificate, complete mandatory STCW safety training (firefighting, first aid, sea survival), and obtain a Seaman’s Record Book, with trainings available through institutions like South African Maritime Training Academy (SAMTRA) and Marine, Oil and Gas Academy.
World Seafarers Day is celebrated annually on June 25 to honor seafarers – the backbones of marine transport. This year’s theme is “From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence.”
Oliver Ochieng, Blue Africa News